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To paraphrase the wise words of Sophia from the Golden Girls:
“Picture it: Dublin. December 2022.
And you suddenly realise you’ve lost your laptop.”
Now tell me..
Will you enjoy those initial hours of searching high and low for it, hoping you left it in the boot of your car or at the office?
Will you enjoy the next few hours, after you realise that the laptop is truly gone and is never going to be seen again?
And will you enjoy the next few days, when you realise that whoever now has your laptop might be able to access all of the files stored on the device?
- All of the financial documents.
- All of the photos. (You know, the ones that may automatically download from your phone when you plug it into the laptop)
- All of the emails (You know, the copy of all your emails that are stored locally on the laptop by email apps like Outlook).
So what?
What would you give right now to have some peace of mind that if you ever lose your laptop, your files will probably be safe from prying eyes?
So what could give you that peace of mind?
There are plenty of ways to minimise the impact of a lost laptop, but there are two very simple and effective steps:
- Using a unique and long login password (which is not written on a post-it note!).
- Turning on disk encryption (e.g. BitLocker or Device Encryption on Windows; FileVault on Apple Mac).
Cost?
Zero dollars and a few minutes of your time.
Benefit?
Priceless.
Still not convinced?
If you are still not convinced about ensuring all of your organisation’s laptops are protected with disk encryption, we may need Sophia’s Sicilian Sleep-Aid.
It can really knock some sense into non-believers.